Sunday the netting on the eagle enclosure couldn’t hold any longer. The entire east half, 30′x100′, collapsed.  The utility poles snapped at the ground.  The ceiling and sides are now iced to the ground. Luckily the bald eagle that has been living there was not injured. 

She has been moved to a temporary enclosure.

Several of the small enclosures have also given way under the weight of the ice and snow on the netting. The small beaver enclosures now only has a small opening to squirm through to get to the lodge. Luckily the little beaver was snuggled safely in his lodge. This enclosure will need to be rebuilt but for now we have to find a way to get under the iced netting to the lodge.

The Gussy Waterfowl habitat is struggling to hold up. The 12′ tall ceiling is only a few feet from the ground. We worry that at any time this also will collapse. 

The cedar trees along the paths that connect all the enclosures are iced to the ground.  We can’t carry food and supplies with the golf cart. We are having to crawl carrying buckets of food and water.

Yes, there are moments of shear beauty, ice crystals on the cedar branches, deer leaping through the trees where paths were, but the daily care for 400 wild animals still must be accomplished. 

WildCare is still up and accepting injured wildlife. A barred owl was just hit by a car, a cardinal was just caught by a cat, all can’t wait until we rebuild. But with the burden of fundraising to have the supplies to rebuild plus the daunting task of figuring out how to rebuild adds to the days tasks at hand.

Like all of the 4,191 animals that arrived at WildCare last year, each one was a little down, injured, and needing care. WildCare is now a little down, injured and needing care. And like each of these animals WildCare will struggle, stretch, and recover. Please help rehabilitate WildCare’s rehabilitation facility. The animals need these space to grow strong enough so they can return to the wild. Thank you for caring about wildlife!

WildCare lost power Thursday afternoon and evening. All the animals were fed and watered before we went black. The only problem was the heat and one incubator for the 2 infant squirrels and 2 great horned owl eggs. So what did we do? We put hand warmers in one nest and snuggled them all together. It will be the only time WildCare will ever put squirrels and owls together! It was a safe bet, infant squirrels with owl eggs. They made it through the night fine. The trees at WildCare were another story.

The willow almost missed the nursery when it fell but it took down the back fence. The maple in the front landed on the picnic table and a bird feeder right after I filled it with seed. The netting on all the flights is solid with ice and now it is trying to hold up the snow. We can only hope it will hold. If anyone wants to help with branch removal please call us at WildCare 872-9338.

Many people tried to help an adult male bobcat after it was hit by a car in Norman unfortunately the trauma was too much. Read about the rescue at

http://www.normantranscript.com/archivesearch/local_story_026133009.html

Jan 27th the first babies of 2010 arrived.  These 2 girls are about 3 days old.  Snuggled in an incubator they will be warm and fed squirrel milk with a special nipple designed for the mouth of an infant squirrel.  Offically Baby Season has begun! 

With the cold spell hitting today I couldn’t resist this shot. This Great Blue Heron came in at the last cold front with a broken wing. While the pin stabilizes the wing she recovers in the admissions area away from the cold.

Reindeer left track in snow

The animals can’t say it, but we can….THANK YOU for your contribution in 2009!
WildCare has proof that Santa exists!!! Christmas morning there were reindeer tracks left in the snow! Some of the cookies were missing and WildCare’s stocking was full of donations! Thank you for opening your wallets and filling this New Year with hope!

As we went about our daily care of the animals I was taken back by the shear beauty of the day! Even thought the buckets of food were heavy and our feet were cold there were these images of beauty surrounding us.

A red tail hawk had dropped a single feather in the snow. This bird was released several months ago and elected to spend the winter flying freely above WildCare. To see one single feather make such an impression on the snow made me wonder what effect that single rehabilitated red tail hawk will make on this earth.

Inside the eagle flight was am image that brought tears to my eyes. It was only the trace of the wing tips, the feet and talons of an eagle in the snow. This is WildCare’s version of a snow angel, a snow eagle.

As WildCare completes another year we look forward to what 2010 brings us. We know that we will have animals struggling to survive. We know that we will at times be overwhelmed by the number of babies requiring constant care. But what we REALLY know is that you will be there with us! You will be there with the funds to purchase food, medicine, enclosures, or whatever we need so that the injured or orphaned wildlife of Oklahoma will receive the best care. They will have the best chance of surviving and being returned back to the wild! For this we THANK YOU!

Thanks for everyone who was dreaming of a white Christmas! Your dreams were answered in inches. It was actually 13 inches to be more accurate. It has been requested that for Christmas 2010 we all start singing “I’m dreaming of a tropical Christmas. Some where that I can feel my paws!”
Thank you for your donations and support! We look forward to sharing our adventures with you in 2010.

Rondi Large, Director